Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-24
JACKSONVILLE.
A Write Up OF Growing Town OF
Cherokee CoHRfy-Hsr Churches,
Schools, Mills, Etc, Etc.
Ths Fruit Growing Center of Toxes-Iron
Stone and Goal In Abundance-An
Unlimited Field For Capital.
From our speclal Correspondent.

fortune to stop ct the little city of Jack
sonYille, which is situated in Cherokee
county, Texas, ST the Junction OF the In
ternational and Great Northern and Kan
sas and Gulf Short Line Railways. The
latter road is narrow guege, but having
passed into the control of the St. Louis,
Arkansas ana Texas Railway Company,
the roSdbed VIII shortly be widened to
standard gusge.
One of the first things did on my ar
rival here WIS 20 cell on my old friend
and typo, Tom NJ, Mcclure, editor snd
proprietor of the Jacksonville Intelli-
genceT, neat and Well-edited eight-psge
county paper.
L was pleased to find, that like Jacok
OF old, Tom had "csme into G strange
land and took unto himself a wife,"
which, of course, causes him to be
much better and happier man. The
merchants and citizens of this town and
county are giving him hearty support,
and through his paper he is laooring
earnestly for the advancement OF this
section.
In this pleasant little city I find 6 sober,
industrious and enterpTising class Of peo-
pie, al laboring for mutual as well as
individual interest.
1t is not difficult TO discover the fact
that Jacksonville is moral Gown, for
four tsll church spires rear their points
heavcnWard, and apy disturbance whatever
Is seldom witnessed within the corporate
limits.
A splendid system Of free schools ex-
lists in this county, and Professor Nor
row, formerly OF Weatherford, Tex, is IN
charge of the city schools. He is an edu-
Gator of wonderful ability, and the Jack
sonyil!e school is Furnishing under his
able management.
In the city there ere three steam mills
and cotton gins, two plsnigg mills, and
one bank.
Texas is a vast country in itself, fur
nishing every variety OF soil, water and
timber almost in the known world, and 1
presume it would be of interest to most
OF your readers to lesrn OF this partic-
ular portion OF the Lone Star state.
Jacksonville is located in the midst of
country which for variety Of soil, water
snd mineral, would run an ordinary geo.
logist or mineralogist rnying r.ad inside
OF tWenty-four hours. It is undoubtedly
the fruit-growing center OF Texas. Apples,
peaches, plums, pears, and almost every
soil. The fruit business, however, is in it's
infancy here, although there has been
skipped from this point during the past
season 81, 000 boxes Of ABOVE mentioned
fruits, amounting TO about II, COO bushels.
The express company received the ener-
nous sum of nearly e2s, 900 for shipping
this fruit, and even then the shippers and
spectators Melted Near $4,000.
AS an individual instance, al old gen
tleman, seventy years ct age, living near
the town, owns four acres in an orchard,
and has this year Melted $500 fro the
fruit crop.
Germ, cotton and vegetables grow well,
Gnd | know Of nc part CT the state where
& man could SO easily Snd cheaply secure
u home and farm as in thig county.
Lands ere very cheap, snd the country
is well supplied with wood and water.
In regeru 10 the latter. cen truthfully
say l never witnessed such wonderful
varieties OF the prohibition elixir. You
can cross The street and drink entirely
different water, though all Of it is SIS cool
and wet as could be desired.
Ii this county 81 abundance Of pure
freestone water can be found ct shy point,
while there sre springs and wells of every
known character under the sun, including
sulphur. iron, Chclybeste, etc.
a bed Of kEolin, fifty feet thick, has
been discovered, while petroleum indica-
tons are remarkably strong.
In several portions Of the county good
quality OF coal crops out from the noun
tSins, though no effort has ever been
made TO develop or test the coal pros
poets here. No doubt but there are fine
fields of good stone coal underlying these
rugged mountains, for all indications
point to this fact. Again, in reference to
the water supply, no county IN Texas has
a greater abundance than Cherokee.
There is one spring alone that gushes
forth from the mountain side within half
mile Of Jacksonville thst would supply
e city Of 10000 inhabitants. 1t is pure
freestone water, and the fountain is stu
ated ct an altitude sufficient to deliver the
refreshing fluid by pipes to any point in
the city.
The city ships nesrly 10000 bales Of
cotton annually, and more corn is pro-
duCed than can be consumed at home.
The nursery business is assuming large
proportions here, and some half dozen
well equipped nurseries gre located near
the city. Their sales this year will ag-
gregete near $4,000.
There is, in addition to ell the above
mentioned features, one little fact con-
nected with this county, which will one
day give Jacksonville boom that will be
hesrd Throughout this continent That
is the wonderful and inexhsustible supply
OF iron.
There is iron, iron, everywhere. You
find il in the dust, in Jumps, in chuncks,
in boulders, and in mountains. Millions
Of tons Of almost pure iron nuggets aad
gravel can be shovelled up from the sur
face of the earth, while the railway cuts
through the mountains, although in some
places twenty five deep, fail to reach the
bottom Of this immense bed Of rich ORE
There Is one belt of country running
between the Neches river and Mud creek,
thirty miles long and ten miles wide, that
is, practically speaking, one solid iron
bed. If this great iron deposit were dis
covered in Alabama or Georgis, 1t would
be declared another Birmingham.
The iron produced by the penitentiary
at Ruskin this county, sells for more
money in the market than any other man
ufsctured in the United States, which
Conclusively establishes the excellent
quality of this ore.
What field for capital.
The citizens OF this town and comfy